Comminuting device



United States Patent 3,330,317 7/1967 Schaller 146/67 FOREIGN PATENTS554,591 2/1957 Belgium 146/67 Primary Examiner-W. Graydon' AbercrombieAttorney-Michael S. Striker ABSTRACT: In a comminuting device acombination is provided which includes a rotary shaft member whose outercircumferential surface is composed of a plurality of facets which aremutually inclined in circumferential direction of the shaft member. Atleast one set of cutter blades is mounted on the shaft member againstrotation relative thereto and extends transversely thereof. The setincludes a plurality of cutter blades exceeding in number the pluralityof facets and each provided with a cutting edge. All cutting edges areangularly offset relative to one another in circumferential directionand none of the cutting edges overlap one another in axial direction ofthe shaft member Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,540,505

Sheet 2 of 7 In venfor:

1711M AJHE6 Ham:

0, mMaa/K- M Patented Nov. 17, 1970 Sheet In ven far:

riff/441L156 BUCK 1- om-Ja MI I/ 'M Patented New 17, 1970 3,54o,s 05

Sheet 4' of! lnwnfr":

Dmmuuea Bac a, mm/qgf 1 {Mm Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,5405 05 FIG.8

In van/0r:

llmluaea Back Paterite Nov. 17, 1970- n. M. 000. 8. n bl d Vw Mw H WW IG Patented Nov. 17, 1970 Sheet Z of? In vemar Dill/M21151, 8mm

COMMINUTING DIVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionrelates to comminuting devices in general, and more particularly tocomminuting devices finding use in comminuting of meat or the like.Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a cutterarrangement for such comminuting devices.

In the comminution of meat and similar articles, for instance sausagefillings or the like, the cutter blades of the comminuting device mustbe capable of exerting strong torque forces. For this purpose they aremounted on rotary shafts of polygonal cross section. This prevents thepossibility of relative rotation between the cutter blades and theshaft.

in known comminuting devices of this type the cutter blades arearranged, as seen with respect to the circumference of the shaft ofpolygonal cross section, with angular spacing which is dictated by theangles included between the circumferentially adjacent facets providedon the outer circumferential surface 1 of the shaft member. This angularspacing is relatively significant and, furthermore, if cutter blades ofdifferent directions of flow are mounted on the shaft member, theangular spacing between the knives is sometimes unequal. This isdisadvantageous because the drive motor which drives the rotary shaft issubjected to unequal loads as a result of this and must be dimensionedconsiderably larger than would otherwise be necessary because of theintermittently occurring demand peaks.

A further disadvantage of these constructions is the fact that as aresult of the aforementioned problems the bearings for the shaft memberare subjected to high loads and that the apparatus is very noisy duringcomminution of meat or the like.

Prior art constructions of this type have been sought to be improvedwith respect to their mixing capacity by affixing on the rotary shaft anumber of cutter blades which is greater than the number of facets ofthe shaft. However, only as many of the cutter blades as there arefacets on the shaft can be circumferentially offset with respect to oneanother; the remaining cutter blades are arranged in parallel with theothers. in other words, regarding the cutter blades mounted on the shaftmember in axial direction of the latter, the cutting edges of theremaining cutter blades in excess of the number corresponding to thefacets on the shaft member, will overlap with cutting edges of at leastone other cutter blade. This still further increases the peak loads,particularly on the bearings for the shaft member, and accordingly thepeak loads required to be withstood by the drive motor and also thenoise factor is still increased. Beyond all this, the increase in mixingcapacity obtained in this manner is still not particularly satisfactory.

it is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to overcome theseaforementioned disadvantages.

A more particular object of the present invention is to provide aconstruction wherein the loads upon the bearings for the shaft memberand upon the drive motor are reduced.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a constructionwherein the noise factor during comminuting is decreased.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide a construction ofthe type under discussion wherein the mixing capacity of the device isconsiderably increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the above objects, andothers which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of my inventionresides in the provision ofa comminuting device, particularly a cutterfor meat, which includes the combination of a rotary shaft member havingan outer circumferential surface composed of a plurality of facets whichare mutually inclined in circumferential direction of the shaft member,and at least one set of cutter blades mounted on the shaft memberagainst relative rotation with respectto the shaft member and extendingtransversely thereof.

In accordance withmy invention the set of cutter blades includes aplurality of blades which exceeds in number the plurality of facetsonthe shaft member, and each of the cutter blades is provided with acutting edge. All of the cutting edges are, in accordance with myinvention, angularly offset relative to one another incircumferentialdirection of the shaft member and one of the, cutting edges overlap oneanother as seen in axial direction of the shaft member.

For purposes of convenience the relationship may be expressed by statingthat the set of cutter blades comprises n m blades, with n the number offacets of the shaft member and m being a whole number.

By resorting to my novel invention l considerably increase the mixingcapacity and multiplication speed of the apparatus and reduce thepossibility of backing-up of the material being comminuted because itcan now pass relatively freely between the cutter blades of the set ofblades. Furthermore, the loads exerted upon the drive motor and thebearings for the shaft member are reduced because the load is nowsubstantially constant; in the case of the drive motor this permits theuse of motors having lesser strength and in the case of bearings this isobviously advantageous, particularly if the shaft member is providedwith floating bearings. Finally, the apparatus is con siderably lessnoisy than was possible to achieve heretofore.

It should be understood that the advantages just outlined are obtainedwithout encountering compensatory disadvantages. By utilizing thepossibility, obtained in accordance with the present invention, to usemore cutter blades of different direction of flow than was heretoforepossible, the cutting, mixing and emulsifying of the material beingcomminuted is still further improved. It is advantageous if the .cutterblades of identical direction of throw or flow are so distributedcircumferentially of the rotary shaft member as to obtain optimumbalancing effect of these cutter blades with reference to one another.Thus, it is for instance possible to have two cutter blades of identicaldirection of throw offset diametrically with reference to one another,and advantageously to have them located adjacent one another withrespect to the axial direction of the shaft member. If the shaft memberis for example provided with six facets, optimum balancing may beobtained by having three cutter blades of identical direction of throwand identical configuration offset circumferentially of the shaft memberby each, and by having them located adjacent one another. Otherpossibilities will come readily to mind for those skilled in the art;

The cutting edges of the cutter blades may be of any desired confguration determined by the type of cutting which is to be carried out.Advantageously, the cutter blades will each have a base portion mountedon the shaft member and a free tip portion spaced from the base portionand from the shaft member, with the cutting edges each extending fromthe respective tip portion towards the associated base portion and eachincluding a first cutting edge portion which extends from the tipportion towards the base portion and a second cutting edge portion whichextends from the base portion towards the first cutting edge portion,with the first and second cutting edge portions each including adifferent tangent with the circle described by the tip portions when theshaft member is rotated. This results in particularly good cutting andmixing of the material and in particular low noise levels.

An arrangement which is particularly advantageous for comminuting andmixing sausage meats, and which results in optimum counterbalancing ofthe cutter blades, provides for subdividing the n m cutter blades into kgroups, each of which has p cutter blades, with p n, and with the cutterblades of each group having identical direction of flow. To furtherimprove cutting and mixing action it is advantageous that the cutterblades of each group have a direction of throw differing from thedirection of throw of the cutter blades of the other groups. Of course,if desired the cutter blades of at least two groups may have identicalcutting edge configurations and thereby identical directions of throw,and in this case the angular offsetting of the cutter blades of the twogroups is provided by turning the polygonal apertures in the baseportions of the cutter blades, from which apertures the shaft member ofcorrespondingly polygonal cross section is pushed, to the extentrequisite to obtain the desired offsetting. For instance, if the shaftmember has four facets, and if six cutter blades with identicaldirection of throw are mounted on this shaft member, then these cutterblades will be subdivided into three groups of two identical cutterblades each, and the apertures in the base portions of these cutterblades will be so arranged with respect to the cutting edges that thecutting edges of all of the cutter blades in circumferential directionof the shaft member are positioned with identical angular spacing, thatis in the example just mentioned with angular spacing of 60. Evidently,it is possible in accordance with the present invention to use shaftmembers having uneven numbers of facets, for instance 3 or facets, andin this case each group of cutter blades will advantageously consist of3 or 5 identically configurated cutter blades to achieve optimumbalancing.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammaticend-elevational view of one embodiment of the invention, with most ofthe cutter blades being shown only fragmentarily to preserve clarity ofillustration;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating another embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating a third embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating yet an additionalembodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates in a plan view and on an enlarged scale a completecutter blade of the type used in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 and also illustrating a completecutter blade of the type used in FIG. 1, but different from the oneshown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 5 but the cutter blade shown therein is againdifferent from those of FIGS. 5 and 6;

FIG. 8 illustrates in a view similar to FIG. 5 a complete cutter bladeof the type-used in FIG. 2, but on an enlarged scale;

FIGS. 9-11 each illustrate a complete cutter blade, shown on an enlargedscale, of the different cutter blades used in the embodiment illustratedin FIG. 3; and

FIGS. 12-- 16 each illustrate a complete cutter blade, on an enlargedscale, of the five different cutter blades used in the embodiment ofFIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS It should be pointed out,before discussing the drawing in detail, that identical components areidentified in all figures with identical reference numerals. Prior toentering into a detailed discussion. of. the various figures it will beadvantageous to point out the common features of the illustrated cutterblades and arrangements or sets of cutter blades, with the commoncharacteristics of the sets of cutter blades being explained on thebasis of FIG. 1 and the common characteristics of the individual cutterblades themselves being explained on the basis of FIG. 5.

It will be seen that each of the cutter blades shown in the drawing isprovided with an aperture 10 having a cross-sectional configurationcorresponding to that of the rotary shaft member 11 which, as clearlyshown, is of polygonal cross section. The shaft member 11 extendsthrough the respective apertures 10 and in the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1 the cutter blades each have a certain amount of play in thedirection of the arrow A. In the direction of the arrow B there is noplay. I

Once all of the cutter blades are thus mounted on the shaft member 11,they are aligned in the direction of the arrow A and jointly fixedlysecured on the shaft member. 11. How this latter is accomplished isalready well known and need not be further discussed.

It will be seen that in these embodiments the cutter blades of each setof blades are so configurated that their tips 12 are arranged atidentical angular spacing as seen in the direction of the circumferenceof the shaft member 11, and that these tips 12 further have identicalspacing from the axis of rotation of the shaft member 11. Each blade ofeach set of blades is so configurated that its cutting edge 13 does notoverlap with any other cutting edge of any other blade of the particularset as seen in the direction of the axial extension of the shaft member11. This assures that no cutter blade of a set parallels any other ofthe same set. Furthermore, none of the cutting edges of any of thecutter blades cross one another in space.

It is clear from the drawing that the cutting edge 13 of each cutterblade consists of two cutting edge sections 14 and 15, with the firstbeing of arcuate configuration and extending from the tip 12 to atransition area 16 at which the second arcuately configurated section 15begins. The section 15 then extends to the end portion 17 of therespective cutting edge. In the illustrated embodiments the sections 14of all cutter blades of each set are identically configurated, that isthey have identical curvature and extend over identical angles so thatthe angular spacing in circumferential direction of the shaft member 11intermediate the transitional areas 16 are always identical and locatedon the same circle of rotation.

The direction of throw of each cutter blade is determined by theconfiguration of the respective sections 15. The flatter the curvatureof each section 15 with respect to the circle described by the tipportion of each cutter blade is, the slower the cutter blade will enterinto the meat or other material to be comminuted when the shaft memberi1 is rotated. Accordingly, by combining blades of different directionof throw in a given set, the mixing capacity, speed of emulsificationand quality of mixture can be influenced.

In the illustrated embodiments the cutter blades of each set are alwayssubdivided into groups of identically configurated blades, with theblades of different groups having different directions of throw.Furthermore, in all of the illustrated blades the first sections 14 areof flatter curvature than the second sections l5,that is tangentsapplied to the respective first sections intersect the circle describedby the tip portions on rotation of the shaft member 11 at smaller anglesthan tangents supplied to the respective second sections 15.

Discussing now FIG. 1 in detail, it will be seen that the device thereillustrated comprises a set of cutter blades consisting of 8blades whichare arranged in four groups each including two blades. Thus, blades 1and 2 constitute a group, as do blades 3 and 4 as well as blades 5 and 6and blades 7 and 8. The four different blade configurations areillustrated in FIG. 1 in the showing of blade 1, in FIG. 5 in theshowing of blade 3, in FIG. 6 in the showing of blade 7 and in FIG. 7 inthe showing of blade 5. Blades 1-8 are advantageously mounted on theshaft 11 in the sequence of their numbering as seen with respect to thedirection of material being comminuted within the receptacle, whichlatter is not illustrated as not being essential to the invention.

The assembly illustrated in FIG. 2 comprises a shaft member 19 havingfour facets on which there are arranged eight cutter blades 2128 havingcutting edges which are angularly offset with respect to one another incircumferential direction of the shaft member 19 and in such a mannerthat the cutting edges do not cross in space. The blades are herearranged in two groups of four identical cutter blades each. with thefirst group comprising blades 21-24 and the second group comprisingblades 25--28. FIG. 2 illustrates a blade 28 of the second group andFIG. 8 illustrates a blade 21 of the first group. It will be seen thatthe cutting edges 13a and 13b of the blades of the different groups herealso provide for different directions of throw, as a comparison of thedifferently configurated cutting edge sections 15a and 15b will show. Itis usually of particular advantage if all blades of each group arearranged adjacent one another, but in many circumstances the arrangementmay also be different as long as the counterbalancing obtained isadequate.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 comprises a total of nine cutterblades 30-38 which are mounted adjacent one another on a shaft member 29having six facets. The blades 30-38 are subdivided into three groupseach comprising three identical cutter blades. The blades 30, 31 and 32together constitute one group, the blades 33, 34 and 35 constitutinganother group and the blades 36, 37 and 38 constitute a third group. Theblades of each group are arranged with identical angular spacing fromone another, that is they are circumferentially offset at 120. Theangular spacing between the tips of adjacent cutter blades is 40. Thethree different cutter blade configurations of the embodiment of FIG. 3are illustrated in FIGS. 9, l and 11 in all major details. The cuttingedges 13c, 13d and I3e of the cutter blades of the different groupsagain have different directions of throw as will be seen by thedifferent configuration of the cutting edge sections 15c, 15d and 15e.

Coming, finally, to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 it will be seenthat here ten cutter blades 40-49 are arranged in five groups of twoidentical cutter blades each. The two cutter blades of each group arearranged diametrically opposite one another with the blades 40 and 41constituting one group, the blades 42 and 43 constituting a secondgroup, the blades 44 and 45 constituting a third groups, the blades 46and 47 constituting a fourth group, and the blades 48 and 49constituting the fifth group. One cutter blade of each group isillustrated in FIGS. 1216 respectively in all essential details and hereagain the cutting edges of these cutter blades have different directionsof throw as is evident from a comparison of the different configurationof the cutting edge sections lm-15q.

It is not thought necessary to illustrate the housing of the comminutingdevice, or the drive arrangement or the like, because all of thesefeatures are well known and entirely conventional, the inventionreciting only in the particulars which have already been disclosed.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofconstructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in acomminuting device, it is not intended to be limited to the detailsshown, since various modifications and structural changes may be madewithout departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

I claim:

1. In a comminuting device, particularly a cutter for meat, thecombination comprising a rotary shaft member having an outercircumferential surface composed of a plurality of facets which aremutually inclined in circumferential direction of said shaft member; andat least one set of cutter blades mounted on said shaft member againstrotation relative to the latter and extending transversely thereof, saidset including a plurality of cutter blades exceeding in number saidplurality of facets and each being provided with a cutting edge, all ofsaid cutting edges being angularly offset relative to one another incircumferential direction and none of said cutting edges overlapping oneanother in axial direction of said shaft member.

2. In a device as defined in claim 1, each of said cutter blades havinga free tip portion spaced from said shaft member; and wherein said tipportions are substantially equiangularly offset relative to one anotherin circumferential direction of said shaft member.

3. In a device as defined in claim 1, each of said cutter blades havinga base portion mounted on said shaft member and a free tip portion saced from said base portion and said shaft member, said cu ting edgeseach extending from the respective tip portion towards the associatedbase portion and each including a first cutting edge portion extendingfrom the tip portion towards the base portion and a second cutting edgeportion extending from the base portion towards the first cutting edgeportion, said first and second cutting edge portions each including adifferent tangent with the circle described by said tip portions onrotation of said rotary shaft member.

4. In a device as defined in claim 1, at least two of said cutter bladeshaving different directions of throw.

5. In a device as defined in claim 1, further comprising additional setsof cutter blades; and wherein said sets of cutter blades are subdividedinto a plurality of groups each having a number of cutter blades smalleror equal thansaid plurality of facets, the cutter blades of each grouphaving at least substantially the same directions of throw.

6. In a device as defined in claim 5, said cutting edges of said cutterblades of each of said groups being equiangularly spacedcircumferentially of said shaft, and proximal to one another indirection axially of said shaft.

7. In a device as defined in claim 5, the cutter blades of differentgroups having different directions of throw.

8. In a device as defined in claim 1, said shaft member having an evennumber of facets, and said cutter blades being provided with aperturesfor receiving said shaft member therethrough and having across-sectional configuration corresponding to that of said shaftmember.

9. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having sixfacets, and said sets being subdivided into four groups each having twocutter blades.

10. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having sixfacets, and said sets being subdivided into three groups each havingthree cutter blades.

11. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having sixfacets and said sets being subdivided into five groups each having twocutter blades.

12. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having sixfacets, and said sets being subdivided into six groups each having twocutter blades.

13. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having fourfacets and said sets being subdivided into two groups each having fourcutter blades.

14. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having fourfacets, and said sets being subdivided into three groups each havingfour cutter blades.

15. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having sixfacets, and said sets being subdivided into two groups each having sixcutter blades.

16. In a device as defined in claim 5, said shaft member having sixfacets, and said sets being subdivided into three groups each havingfour cutter blades.

